Colorado Mountain Love
by Challenge Acceptor
Summary: Maybe its not always about trying to fix something broken. Maybe its about starting over and creating something better. -storyline credited to ABCSOAPFAN1963.-
1. Chapter 1

_story line provided by ABCSOAPFAN1963 via Step Up And Take The Challenge forum._

A sharp gust of wind blows past them as they stand upon that bridge, pain vibrantly shining through both their eyes as they put the final nail in the coffin of their relationship. The love they share is so strong, stronger than both of them could ever truly understand, but the time has come that their love just isn't enough to pull them through.

Weeks ago, days even, they would have never believed they'd reach this point, a point where their love wasn't strong enough to weather any storm, but that day has come. As they stare into each other's eyes for the final goodbye, neither one could believe that its come to this, but it has and all that's left to do is say goodbye.

With a final kiss, the two lovers go their separate ways, accepting that life was just too complicated for them to be together. While his life is filled with danger and constant threats of violence, her life is filled with a healing touch and warm embraces. As hard as they fought it, their two worlds are just too different to ever become one.

"Jason?" his boss and friend, Sonny, voices in surprise when he walks through the door of the penthouse, a blank expression plastered over his face. "I thought you were on a date with Robin."

"We broke up." he states bluntly, wanting to get it over with now before they move forward with the reason he has shown up there instead of speeding away on his bike.

"I...I don't know what to say to that." he voices in shock, knowing his wife would be thrilled to hear of this latest development. "I'm sorry..."

"Don't be." Jason says plainly. "I need to get out of town."

"Okay, I understand that." Sonny shakes his head. "How long do you think you'll be gone?"

"Not for recreational purposes, Sonny." Jason counters. "I need to go out of town on assignment."

"Do you really think that's wise?"

"Sonny."

"Fine, fine." Sonny sighs, walking over to the desk. "I was going to send Francis to handle this, but I guess you can take it."

"I'll call you once its done."

"Don't you want to know what the assignment is?"

"I don't really care." Jason says as takes the file. "The file will suffice."

"Jason..." Sonny calls out to him as he's about to walk out the door. "...be careful."

Without replying, he walks out of the penthouse to grab his travelling bag, intent on being out of town for as long as he can manage. If this trip doesn't do him any good, he'll just have to talk Sonny into sending him on every out of town assignment that they have until one of them does the trick.

Forcing thoughts of Robin from his mind, he places a few calls to the people that need to know he'll be out of town before heading to the private air strip and boarding the jet. Regardless of what will come of this trip or the assignment has blindly volunteered for, Jason knows that this trip couldn't do him any more harm than he's done to himself lately.

**pPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPp**

Standing outside as she awaits the delivery of her medical supplies, Elizabeth can't help but admire the beauty that is the Colorado Mountain. For as long as she has lived out here, she has yet to get used to the massive beauty that the mountain portrays. Even her paintings couldn't possibly do justice to its natural beauty.

Hearing the familiar whirlwind caused by the propellers of the delivery helicopter, she gives the usual landing area a wide berth, knowing just how dangerous it is to be too close to the area when the copter is about to land. Especially if the pilot is one of the new ones. They are particularly even more dangerous because they don't know the terrain as well as the more seasoned pilots.

"Hey, Liz." one of her usual pilots greets her loudly as he slides open the door of the helicopter. "Your boss has upgraded the usual package. Might be a little more than you expected."

"That's fine." she says loudly to be heard over the whirlwind from the propellers. "Thanks for making the trip!"

"For my favorite client, anytime."

Grabbing crate after crate, she quickly stacks in under the awning before pulling out her usual tip for the pilot, knowing that even a little could go a long way with them. The mere fact that they get her items to her in one piece without damaging any of the products is reason enough for a tip, not to mention the complicated flight it takes to get to where she is on the mountain.

"Safe travels." Elizabeth shouts to the pilot as she hands him the tip. "Same time next month?"

"You betcha!" he assures, shaking his head. "There looks to be a storm brewing...try to be careful."

"Always."

Walking back to the porch, Elizabeth watches as the helicopter door shuts just shortly before the aircraft lifts back up into the air and makes its way back out of the mountain area. With a soft sigh, she turns to the equipment that has been provided to her by her employer, thoroughly impressed with this month's haul.

If she's fortunate enough, she can get the equipment into her makeshift clinic and unpacked in time for some quality time with her paints and a brand new canvas. With her position as the mountain's emergency care nurse, she's not kept that busy during the down season, a few hikers and mountain personnel here and there, but hiking season is almost upon her and she swears she'll enjoy her downtime for as long as it lasts.

**pPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPp**

Watching his wife rejoice over knowing that Jason and Robin are no longer together sends a strange feeling into the pit of his stomach. Regardless of the confidence he has in his best friend, Sonny can't seem to shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen.

In his line of work, the way he has survived this long, is by always following his instincts and going with his gut. Today, though, taking everything into consideration, he can't help but wish that he could ignore his gut. That all the things leading to this haunting feeling are nothing but a mere coincidence.

"What's with that look?" his wife questions, clearly not understanding the shift in the air, the unshakable feeling that he's being swallowed by. "Come on, this is good news! FINALLY Jason will be free of that goody goody and free to live his life as he pleases."

"Sure, sure." he shakes his head, placating her desire to celebrate something that has everyone else involved saddened by the news.

"Sonny." she says in that tone that entails she knows something's up with him. "What is it?"

"I just can't shake this feeling that something bad's about to happen." he sighs, walking over to stand by the double doors that lead to his balcony. "I don't know what...I just know it's not good."

"Dammit, not another one of your feelings." she sighs just like he has, making her way over to his side. "Why can't we ever enjoy a moment without something bad happening?"

"I know." he turns to place a soft kiss upon her temple as she wraps her arms around his side. "I just hope I'm able to cut this thing off before it affects anyone."

"Do you think we should call Jason?" she questions with curiosity. "You know, just so he has a heads up."

"No, no." he shakes his head. "He should still be on his way to Denver and I don't want his focus on anything else but the assignment."

"I'm gonna go to bed then." she says as she releases her hold on him. "Don't stay up too late, okay? You know I hate being in bed alone."

"I'll be right up."

Staring out the double doors as his wife makes her way up to their master bedroom, he tries to convince himself that its nothing but the change in temperature. That his gut feeling is nothing more than a default after such an emotional breakup between two important people in his life.

As much as he tries to convince himself, however, the stronger the feeling becomes. Making a small prayer and the sign of the cross, he decides to call it a night, hoping that he's wrong about it all. Turning out the lights, he makes his way up to the master bedroom, praying that sleep comes swiftly.

_note to public: All challenges encouraged and accepted. _


	2. Chapter 2

_note to public: thank you for your kind reviews. 15...wow. more than i expected, that's for sure. not to mention, 2 favorites and 12 followers...that's...wow. thanks and enjoy._

Wrapping herself up in her coziest robe available, Elizabeth slips her feet into her thickest slippers before heading out of her bedroom for a nice hot cup of cocoa to wake her from her sleepy state. Since her artistic desire overruled her need to unpack the equipment the day before, she has left herself with a lot of work to do this morning.

From the moment she stepped out of the main part of her cabin to grab more firewood, she knew without a doubt that a storm would soon be upon her. Just by the stillness of the morning air, the calm before the storm, if you will. With the chances of a storm growing more and more probable, she gathers the firewood before heading inside, needing to prep her clinic for anything.

The last storm to hit this part of the mountain had left her with three patients that needed a good amount of time to heal in her clinic. Thankfully she had just gotten a fresh batch of supplies and had the means to care for them until they were able to be transported to a nearby hospital.

Dropping the firewood by her fireplace in the main part of the cabin, Elizabeth makes her way into the clinic, prepping the equipment she's going to need to sterilize the room. Having been waiting for the latest shipment, she also put off sterilizing the work area, knowing that it would only get dusty over time as she waited for the latest medical shipment.

"Time to get to work." she mutters to herself as she slides her hands into a pair of latex gloves. "Really need to stop procrastinating."

From her surgical tools to the gurney, Elizabeth starts wiping everything down with industrial strength alcohol, her only means of sterilizing her equipment. Thankfully, for her patients' sake, she's rather thorough when she's cleaning her equipment.

Can you just imagine how dangerous it would be for them if she was lazy in that sense? All the different types of blood that have passed through her clinic...she shudders to think what could happen if she didn't sterilize her equipment. She's heard of a makeshift clinic a few states over that didn't take the precautions she takes and that clinic did not meet a pretty end.

* * *

Enduring the ride home, he finds that he's unsatisfied with the length of this recent assignment, partly wishing that he would have let Sonny explain the assignment in detail now. With only one day away from Port Charles, if you can even call it a day, Jason just didn't feel like he was ready to head back yet.

Most days a well executed assignment is enough to get his mind back into the flow of things even though his heart isn't there yet, but not this time. No amount of adrenaline pumping through his veins was able to put his mind back on track regardless of the pain his heart feels. If this doesn't work, if adrenaline and his job doesn't do the trick, he's just not sure what will.

"Its done." he says to Sonny over their secure line on the plane. "I need another one."

"You can't stay away forever, Jason." he tries to reason with him, knowing that what his friend is doing isn't healthy. "Sooner or later..."

"Do you have another one or not?" Jason cuts him off, not having the patience to hear Sonny pick apart the inner workings of his mind.

"No, not right now." Sonny sighs, realizing that its pretty much pointless to try to make Jason face things that he himself finds difficult to face. "I should have something by the time you land."

"Talk to you then."

"Jason..."

Ending the call before his friend could delve further into the emotional mess that he is, Jason reclines his chair to relax before a thought hits him. Grabbing the phone, he dials his sister's number, hating himself for not calling her sooner. With everything going on with her, he's been worried, but she's told him to stay out of it and so he has. Didn't stop him from worrying though, as crazy as that is.

Getting her voice mail, not to surprised by that, he leaves a message that he'll call again later. Reminding her, regardless of the need to do so or not, that he's there for her. No matter what happens, his own personal issues aside, he's there for his sister. No questions asked.

It was until he was about to hang up that the plane started to become unstable. For a moment he thinks its nothing but turbulence, but that theory is quickly squashed when the plane starts to take a nose dive. Quickly hanging the phone, Jason rushes to the cockpit, needing to find out what's happening.

As he yanks open the door, however, his worst fear is confirmed when he finds the pilot out cold. Checking for a pulse, his breath catches in his throat when he realizes that the pilot's dead. Leaving him with one burning question, how the hell is he going to land this plane?

* * *

Sorting through the things that needed to be done, Sonny tries his hardest to find something for Jason to do, knowing that not coming up with something just might not bode well for him. With Jason in this mood that he's in, he needs an outlet and right now that's working.

Despite his every instinct to not give him another assignment until he faces his problems, he eventually finds an assignment that will have Jason out of town for a good stretch of time. With things starting to pick up momentum in Portugal, a visit from either him or Jason would do the business some good.

"Sonny!" the voice of his best friend's sister yanks him from his inner debates when she comes barreling into his penthouse. "Sonny, something's wrong!"

"Whoa, slow down." Sonny places his hands on her shoulders to keep her in one place. "What's going on? What's wrong?"

"Its Jason...something's wrong, Sonny." she pulls out her cellphone and brings up the voice mail she had just received, having been a few seconds too late. "Here, listen."

Listening to the message on her phone, Sonny couldn't help but feel like he was about to pass out by the sounds coming through the phone at the very end of the message. He couldn't believe that this was happening, that something was wrong with the plane and that Jason could be in real danger.

"I don't understand this...I was just on the phone with him." Sonny shakes his head. "How can something bad happen this fast?"

"You have to find out what happened." Emily pleads him. "If this means what we both think it means, Jason can be in real danger! He can be really hurt...he can be..."

"Don't think like that." Sonny insists, not even wanting to think of the possibility of Jason not being alive. "For all we know, this can mean anything...we can't jump to the worst case scenario. We just can't."

Assuring Emily that he'll call her once he has something definitive, Sonny ushers her out of the penthouse before getting to work on finding out what happened. Doing the usual stupid move first, he tries to call the plane's private line, hating the feeling that surges through him when its said to be disconnected.

With a deep breath in, he goes into boss mode to figure out just what happened to the plane and, more importantly, Jason. Having had to cut corners with this assignment, as far as flight plans were concerned, there's no legit way of finding the plane. Which left Stan, the organizations, top techie. If he can't find out what happened to Jason, they'll be a whole different world of trouble.

* * *

Finishing up with the sterilization of the new equipment, Elizabeth takes a step back to admire her work, thankful that she has gotten her clinic back into working order. With her new equipment set and ready to go, her clinic cleaner than most clinic's like hers, she feels like she deserves a nice long soak in her bath with a very delicious cup of hot cocoa and a couple fudge brownies.

Making her way out of her clinic, she hears the unmistakable sound of something falling out of the sky, a screeching noise that's almost deafening to hear. Rushing to the door, she searches the skies to catch a glimpse of what could possibly be causing the horrific sound, finding what looked like a plane heading straight down into the mountain.

"Pull up...please pull up." Elizabeth begs as snow starts to fall from the skies, signalling the start of the imminent storm. "Come on...you can do it...pull up!"

Against her pleading, the plane's wing hits a mountain side, sending a sinking feeling to the pit of her stomach. Rushing into the clinic to grab her emergency kit, she rushes out to her all terrain vehicle, strapping her in emergency kit before revving the engine and taking off through the snow as it begins to fall harder and harder.

If she hated anything, its being caught in a snow storm, especially one like this where the snow is coming down harder than ever, but she has a job to do. Racing against time, needing to get to the crash site and back to her cabin before the storm gets too out of hand, she can only hope that the people aboard the plane are still alive.

Of course, if she doesn't get to them soon, the storm will soon put an end to their chances of survival if it gets any worse.


	3. Chapter 3

_note to public: 25 reviews, 3 favorites, and 18 followers. you all are just too nice...hope you enjoy this one._

Pacing the room, his anxiety getting the best of him, Sonny tries to keep his cool. There could be all kinds of explanations to explain what had been on Emily's voice mail. So many reasons why the phone would be disconnected on the plane. This doesn't have to be a drastic emergency.

The more he tries to convince himself to relax, to not overreact, his gut is fighting back just as fierce. Begging him to open his eyes and see what's right in front of his face. The feeling of danger in the air growing stronger and stronger. Something's not right and no amount of his stubbornness is going to change that.

"Sonny." Robin's voice calls to him from the doorway, his guard standing idly by, obviously afraid of the tears in Robin's eyes to deny her entry. "Is it true?"

"Is what true?" Sonny plays oblivious as she walks into the room and the guard shuts the door behind her.

"You know what." Robin counters seriously before voicing it regardless. "Did Jason's plane crash?"

"Who...who told you that?" Sonny questions though he has a pretty good idea of who told her. Hoping against hope it was the nicer of the two that know. "Was it Emily?"

"No. It was Carly." Robin replies. "So, its true? Jason's plane crashed? Oh, my god, Sonny! Please tell me he's not dead...oh, god!"

"Whoa, slow down." Sonny grips her the way he gripped onto Emily, trying to stop her from putting anymore fears into his mind. "We don't know anything for sure. I'm still trying to triangulate the plane's position. For all we know, they could have hit a rough patch of turbulence. Until we know for sure, its pointless to speculate, okay?"

"But if something did happen...if he's hurt..." Robin tries not to go there, but she can't. "It'll be my fault...he wouldn't be on that plane if it weren't for me. If we didn't break up...if I would have tried harder...he would still be here, Sonny. He'd still be right here...with us!"

"Don't do that." Sonny states, forcing her to meet his eyes. "Jason wouldn't want you to blame yourself for anything."

"But if I just would have..."

"Stop!" Sonny snaps. "If I know both of you, like I believe I do, you both did what you thought was best. That's all that matters."

"I just...I can't lose him, Sonny." she sighs, stepping into his arms when he opens them up wide to hug her. "He has to be okay...he just has to be."

Taking in a shaky breath as he holds her close, he forces himself to accept his gut, knowing now that its futile to deny it. As much as he wants to deny it, Jason could be in real danger and that meant facing his inner voice and accepting that the worst case scenario is very much probable at this point.

Pulling away from Robin after a long moment, when the phone rings, Sonny forces himself to be the boss that he is and answer the phone. As soon as Stan's voice came over the line, he knew that it wasn't good news and that didn't sit well with him at all.

Somehow their private plane has just vanished in thin air. Neither the tracking device nor the emergency locator transmitter are active. It would seem as if they had both been disabled. The last known location where the tracking device had been active was a local airstrip in Denver. After that, nothing. No sign of the plane or Jason anywhere.

* * *

Racing through the snow, begging her eyes to find the crash site fast before the snow covers it all up, Elizabeth tries her hardest to focus. If she could just find some kind of clue that would direct her to the plane, anything at all, she would thank the heavens.

Losing hope, she looks to the skies, hoping that some kind of smoke would be evident in the air. Staring fiercely, she manages to find what looks like smoke from a camp fire and speeds in the direction its coming from. With a storm like this, only a crazy person would be out camping in it.

Shutting off her vehicle a few feet from the wreckage, making a quick sign of the cross before grabbing her emergency kit and rushing towards the aircraft. Checking to make sure that its safe to enter the crashed plane, Elizabeth calls out to any survivors, hoping against hope that someone has survived this tragedy.

The first body she comes across sends a sinking feeling to the pit of her stomach, even worse than when she had seen the plane go down. From the looks of this man, he had clearly died before the plane went down. If memory serves her right, it looks like this man meet a drug induced end. A poison of some kind.

Pulling a blanket out of her kit, she covers him up from head to toe, apologizing to the man before moving on. Right now, with the storm growing stronger and stronger, her focus has to be on survivors. Taking a deep breath, she carefully steps around him, heading for the cockpit. Obviously someone had to have crash landed this plane.

Slumped forward over on the pilot's chair, badly injured from the crash, is a man quite larger than herself. Looking for a pulse, Elizabeth breathes a breath of relief when she finds one, its weak, but its there. Assessing the injuries on the man, she assesses that she should be able to move him without causing more damage. Its gonna take all her strength to do so, but its manageable and that's all that matters.

"You're gonna be okay." she whispers to the man, settling him back against the chair. "I'm gonna make sure of it. Just hang on, okay?"

Rushing to get the gurney, she carefully makes her way back into the plane, careful to not disturb the other man's body. Quickly dragging him onto the gurney, she straps him down tight before pushing him out of the wreckage, having worn herself out more than a little bit by doing so.

Locking the gurney into place on the trailer, she makes sure that he's secured, that the ride back won't jolt him, before straddling her vehicle and taking off. Any treatment that this man needs will have to be done in the clinic.

The snow has begun to drop so fast that the trail ahead is barely visible anymore. The plane itself starting to be covered with a layer of snow. By the end of the storm, you'll be lucky to find the thing again. She will find it again, though, that much she's certain of. There's just no way she's going to let that man be buried like that, its not fair, no one should be forgotten like that. No one.

Getting to her clinic, she rushes him inside, needing to get started on his wounds. No matter how much her heart aches at the sight of anyone in this state, she forces herself to go into nurse mode, needing to take care of this man and ensure that he lives past this. Its going to be a long night, but she won't stop until he survives past this. She just has to save him.

* * *

Stepping through the door of the penthouse they shared together, Robin couldn't help but ache at the sight of it. She hasn't even had a chance to move all her things out, she hasn't had a chance to do much of anything a girl is supposed to do after she breaks up with her boyfriend, and now she must face the harsh reality that she may actually be losing him for good.

Like Jason had always said, if the day comes that they find themselves apart, as long as they both existed, that's all that really mattered. Because as long as they both exist, there will always be the chance of them finding their way back to each other. A thought that she had always relied on. That no matter what happened to them, they'd always find their way back.

Picking up a framed picture of them, she lets out her heartache through her tears, unable to believe that the last time they saw each other is the last time they will ever see each other again. Hugging the picture tight to her chest, she plops down onto the couch, her legs no longer able to hold her up at this point.

"You have to be okay, Jason." she whispers to herself as she shuts her eyes tightly against the tears. "You just have to be."


	4. Chapter 4

_note to public: 35 reviews, 6 favorites, and 23 followers! are you kidding me?! that's beyond...wow. thanks and enjoy!_

Washing the blood from her hands, Elizabeth takes a shaky breath in, hoping that she will be enough to pull this man back from the brink of death. Glancing over her shoulder at the man resting upon her medical table, she can't help but wonder what part he had in the death of that other man on the plane.

At a first glance, she can't understand how he or any human being, really, could cause so much damage to another human being. Let alone crash a plane with said person and themselves in it. Could it truly be possible that in his attempt to kill the other man, this man ended up putting his own life at risk?

Not wanting to hang a man before he's able to defend himself, Elizabeth forces herself to not go there, to accept that there is more to this than even she could possibly fathom at this time. Regardless of the way the other man has met his end, she must find it in herself to accept that her job now is to save the only survivor of the crash. Despite the man he is or the things he may or may not be capable of.

Turning down the lights to allow her patient to get some much needed rest, she sits up by the window with one of her favorite books, using a small book light to make the words visible. Until she's able to transfer him to the nearest hospital, she refuses to leave that room unless absolutely necessary. In his condition, things can definitely get a lot worse before they get better.

* * *

All but ordered to not breathe a word of her brother's disappearance and the possible crashing of his plane, Emily finds that her heart aches with the loss of her brother. As hard as she tries to believe that he could still be alive somewhere, she realizes that the sympathetic reality is that he isn't.

With storms hitting Denver one after the other, its unlikely that a plane will be discovered if it hasn't already, leaving a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. After all that her brother has been through, after everything he has survived, how can this be the one thing that puts an end to him?

"Emily?" the voice of her boyfriend pulls her out of her thoughts, the concern on his face causes her to wipe the tears from her face, tears she hadn't realized started to fall from her eyes. "Hey, its gonna be okay. Lucky's starting to pull through."

"Oh, I know, I...its just hard seeing him like that." Emily replies, shaking her head as she walks over to him. "He's usually so active and light spirited. To see him in that bed...its just...its hard."

"I know." he says softly, pulling her into his arms and holding her close. "We just have to remember that he's getting better. Before we know it, he'll be back to his usual sarcastically humorous self in no time."

"I hope so." she whispers. "Maybe we should go check if your mom needs anything."

"Maybe we should." he replies softly. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, yeah." she waves away his concern. "I'll be fine."

Allowing him to walk her to his brother's room to check on his mother, finding that keeping busy is her only outlet for the frustration and confusion she's feeling. With her brother's fate far from being known to her or anyone else in that town, a quote he had once told her comes to mind. Sometimes being needed is enough to keep you sane. Even in the most desperate of times.

Right now, the ones that need her are her boyfriend and his family. With her first true friend, one of her very best friends, laying in a hospital bed awaiting surgery, she has to find the strength to put all her focus on him and not her brother. For if she allows herself to delve into the possible fates he'll face, for even a second, she'll go mad.

* * *

Wringing out the rag for the umpteenth time, Elizabeth begins to wipe down her patient's face and neck, hoping that it'll help break the fever. So far the medication has yet to have any real affect on him and she's too afraid to administer any further medication until she can get his fever under control.

Moving away from him, she dumps the water into the sink, needing to freshen it up once the feel of the water becomes warm. Sometimes, in certain cases, the old school way is the best way to treat a patient. She can only hope that it stands true in this instance.

Dipping the water into the bowl, she reaches over to start wiping his forehead once again, being extremely mindful of his wounds as she does. Taking in a deep breath, she tries to remain focus, but that feat soon becomes difficult when his hand slowly slips into hers.

In that moment, her entire focus falls onto their joined hands, wondering why she couldn't, for the life of her, remove her hand from his. In all her time of being a nurse, this has never happened to her, as strange as that is. As his grip on her hand grew a tad tighter, she shakes her head, reminding herself of the reason for the closeness between them.

Reaching for her stool behind her, Elizabeth slowly lowers herself onto it before continuing the ever persistent feat of trying to get his fever to break. In spite of her every instinct, she does the unprofessional thing by leaving her hand in his grasp, hoping that, somehow, it'll help pull him back.

"If you can hear me, just know that I'm doing my best to help you." she says softly, as she dips the rag back into the bowl. "I'm going to do whatever it takes to get you back to the people that love you."


End file.
